Before Breakfast
by Dr. Phoenix
Summary: I got bored so I wrote a little one-shot from Belle's point of view the day after the spell is broken, her observations about the servants who work in the forest. (Proof you should never watch a nature documentary when the song "As Long As There's Christmas" is stuck in your head.)


"Good morning, Belle!" Adam pulled me into an embrace as we met in the corridor. "I was so afraid when I woke up this morning that yesterday was just a dream, but you're still here." We shared a kiss. " _Je t'aime."_

I smiled up at him. "I love you too." Seeing him wince, I asked, "Are you feeling alright?"

"Still a bit sore. I know it's wrong to judge people you don't take the time to get to know, but I harbor a few ill feelings toward that Gaston."

"What did the doctors say?"

"I still have a few bruises, but the more serious wounds healed during the transformation, so you don't get to dump salted lemon juice on my back like you did to my right arm."

I stood akimbo. "If you had held still, it wouldn't have hurt as much!"

He frowned. "Speaking of pain, I should check on my injured servants before breakfast."

"I'll go with you," I offered.

The head caretakers of the royal forest were already carrying trays of breakfast to the rooms of the other forest workers.

"Can't I get up and work?!" one of them asked from his room. "It's just a few broken ribs! I can still come to breakfast and then have a full day in the forest!"

"I don't care if it's a paper cut!" Loup argued, limping into the room with breakfast. "The doctors don't want you out of bed today, and that's final! Did you sleep well?"

The forest worker cheerfully replied, "It's been so long since I've slept in an actual bed! And we had bread with supper! And look! Here are a couple croissants! But what about you, boss? Can't the royal physicians take care of your limp?"

"It will be a miracle if my sister ever uses her injured arm again."

"But what about you, Loup?"

"It doesn't matter. I can limp. That's good enough. It doesn't matter if you can walk properly, as long as you can walk, right?"

His sister, Louve, carried another breakfast tray with her good arm. She knocked on the door of another forest worker's room by lightly kicking the door.

"That face!" he shrieked. "The indescribable horror! Take cover! It's after us!"

"He's not here," Louve replied evenly. "It's just your boss with breakfast."

The man seemed to calm down a bit. "I keep reliving it! I can't get the monster out of my mind!" He sighed dejectedly. "What's wrong with me?"

"It's a sign that you've fought bravely. It happens to the most valiant soldiers who survive horrific battles."

"Will I ever be…?"

"Not a word of hopelessness!" Louve scolded. "Not after yesterday!"

Adam was already starting to fall back into his old habit of only being able to tolerate so much before he felt compelled to intercede. He approached the two head forest caretakers, who bowed politely.

"Are you going to tell me what happened to them?" he asked.

"Occupational hazard," Loup replied.

He turned to go to the kitchen for another tray, but Adam caught him by the shoulder.

"I settled for vague answers yesterday," Adam began. "It was our first day of being ourselves in over a decade. Now I want the truth."

Loup glanced at Adam's sleeve. "May I, sir?"

Before Adam could reply, Loup had pushed up his right sleeve. "These two were from fangs. The wolf dug his teeth in here for the puncture wound, and when you turned during the fight, the canine teeth were dragged down, thus making the long slice. The scar here is from one of his claws. It punctured and was dragged just like the fangs. A millimeter deeper or a half second longer, and the wolf might have severed your brachial artery, causing you to bleed to death in less than two minutes."

Adam adjusted his sleeve uncomfortably.

"I'm sorry I failed you. I could have prevented the wolf attack."

Adam gripped his servant's shoulder. "It wasn't your fault, Loup."

"It was."

"Don't be ridiculous! There was nothing you could have done!"

"I should've done nothing. It would have been better for everyone."

"Let me try," I suggested.

Adam shrugged. "Be my guest!"

I followed Louve and Loup to the kitchen to get more trays to put on the cart they took to the rooms of the other forest workers.

"I'm afraid I haven't had much of a chance to get to know you," I remarked.

"We know a great deal about you already," Loup replied, arranging croissants and fruit. "You're headstrong. You read a lot of books, but none that take place in the winter, or else you might have known that going out alone into an unfamiliar patch of woodland at night during a snowstorm is generally a bad idea. You don't know how to choose a quarterstaff, much less use one, and you tend to panic under pressure, not to mention your assumptions lead you to a lot of false conclusions, which get you into a lot of trouble. However, you're also the woman that broke the spell yesterday, so what can I do but thank you?"

"How do you know so much about me?" I asked.

"We met in a former life."

"But of course!" I laughed. "You must have been some of the household items I didn't have the pleasure of meeting! No doubt you found out a great deal about me from your friends."

Louve shrugged. "We heard about you from our friends alright..."

"Adam and I want to know what happened to you and your men. We want to help you."

She drew her dagger and began tossing it into the air, catching it by its hilt. "It's as my brother says. Occupational hazard. We had a little accident in the forest, and for the most part, our injuries never healed. We've got quite a range, you know: broken bones, open wounds, head trauma…"

"You're not fooling me!" I stood akimbo. "I know the wolves did this to you! You're wearing coats made of wolf fur, so I can guess what happened. You fought the wolves and won, but they wounded you badly during the fight!"

"You're right," Loup answered. "The wolves are to blame, at least the pack leaders are."

I was confused. "Why didn't you just tell us? Is it really so shameful to face a wolf attack?"

"It is when it's your job to prevent them."

"But you won!" I argued. "They're gone now, so they can't hurt us anymore! The forest is safe now! That's all that matters!"

He nodded tersely. "Right."

Loup finished helping his sister with the breakfast trays.

"What about the monster your friend was mentioning?"

Louve sighed. "Well, we work in a forest. We face a lot of creatures. I'm afraid our men were attacked by a bear."

I'm sure my eyes were as wide as dinner plates when I asked if there were any other bears in the forest.

"I can honestly say that bear went to the same place those wolves did!" Loup muttered. He cleared his throat. "Mademoiselle, the spell ended yesterday. If I should see any more dangerous animals, I am now able to shoot them with a gun or even an arrow rather than having to fight tooth and claw."

I couldn't hide a slight laugh. "I think the expression is tooth and nail."

"Right. That's what I meant. Just a little forest humor there. If you'll excuse us…"

As he left with his sister to finish taking breakfast to their men, I thought no more about the conversation until after supper. Many of the servants were in the library or the ballroom, still celebrating their humanity.

Louve was in front of the fireplace with her brother. "The masters ask a lot of questions, but give them a day or two, and they'll quit. They'll get used to us. They'll have matrimony and ruling the country on their minds, and a few injured servants aren't going to mean a thing."

"Do you think the scars on his arm will ever fade?" Loup asked.

"No more than those on your psyche." She made a few stitches on her embroidery hoop before adding, "The royal physicians say our men are healing up nicely. They're all going to be just fine."

"Even the ones with the head injuries?"

"Even them."

Loup sighed as he fletched arrows. "They should never have been injured in the first place!"

"I agree, but blaming ourselves isn't going to help anything."

He made no reply. Softly, Louve began singing under her breath:

 _There is more to this blessed day_

 _Than fractures and trauma,_

 _Deep scars of regret,_

 _How soon we forget_

 _La belle aime la bête!_

 _Why then is there need to be upset?_

 _Elle aime la bête!_

 _As long as we're human_

 _I almost believe_

 _That nothing is hopeless_

 _So there's no cause to grieve_

 _As long as we're human_

 _Someday we'll be fine…_

At this point, Loup interrupted, "How can you believe it when the fault is all mine?!" He fletched two more arrows. "As long as we're human, as long as we live, I just pray that someday they can somehow forgive."

I fear I'll never be able to understand the forest workers.


End file.
